Arch-support.



C. H. DRUCKENMILLER.

ARCH SUPPORT.

APPucMwu HLED N0v.29. 1916.

Patented Oct.

wuento'c GED i Z162;

CHARLES H. DRUGKENMILLER, 0F CLARENDON, VIRGINIA.

ARCH-SU'PPOET.

Specification of Letters ratcnt.

Patented o a 2, 1917.

Application filed November 29, 1918. Serial No. 134,096.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. DRUCKEN- MILLER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Clarendon, in the county of Alexandria and State ofVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inArch-Supports, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to arch supports and is designed to provide anelastic suport for the arch portion only of the foot.

ile the present embodiment of the invention, as shown in theaccompanying drawing, is that of an insole, the invention may be builtdirectly in a shoe.

In carrying out the present invention, I employ an elastic tube as thearch supporting element. This tube is wound at one end into circularform having any desired number of coils, the other end portion of thetube extending rearwardly in a straight line from the coiled portion atone side thereof. The coiled portion is designed to be locatedimmediately in rear of the ball of the foot,

7 foot, where while the rear end of the tube terminates substantially atthe front of the heel of the y the entire support is located beneath thearch of the foot, and the weight of the user which comes on the heel andball of the foot does not also come'upon the improved arch support.Inthe drawing, Figure 1 is an edge elevation of an arch supportconstructed in accordance with the present inventiop and shown in itsoperative relation to a foot and shoe, the latter members being shown indotted lines Fig. 2 1s a plan view of the arch support of the presentinvention embodied in the form of an insole. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectionalview on the line 3-43 of Fig. 2.

'Fig. 4 is a detail view of the elastic tube removed from between thetop and bottom plies of the insole.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view,on the line 55 of Fig. 2,showing a slight modification.

ention involves the use of a to her tube,

such for instance, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing, wherein it will beseen that one end portion 1 of the tube is wound in a flat circularcoil, while the other end portion 2 extends in a straight linesubstantially tangentially with res ect to the next adjacent coil of thetube. he ends of the tube may be open or closed, as desired. Gobdresults have been obtained with both ends of the tube open.

The tube in the form shown in Fig. 4 is inserted between the u perand'low'er lies 3 and 4 of an insole of usual form. hese plies aresecured together in an suitable manner, for instance by ineans ostitchin 5 extending around the entire peri hery o the insole. It isunnecessary to ave the insole the full length of the shoe, it beinsufficient to have it extend from the bee to about the ball of the foot,so that it may be eflectuallv held in place by theheeland ball of'thefoot. The coil 1 18 located substantiall midway between the op ositelongitudina edges of the insole and disposed slightliy in rear of thefront edge thereof so as to ie adjacent but immediately in rear of theball of the foot, as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, while thepart 2 of the coil extends alongside the inner edge of the insole andterminates ad'acent and slightly in front of the heel. he elastic tubemay be held in place in any suitable manner, preferably by a row ofstitching 6 extendin around the coiled portion of the tube an a furtherrow of stitching 7 extending along the inner side of the straight part 2of the tube and thence across the rear end of the tube, as at 8. Thestitching 6, 7 and 8, and that portion of the stitching 5 which runsalongside of the ,tube portion 2, produce pockets within which the tubinis confined, it of course bein understoo that the stitching extendsentirely through the upper and lower plies of the insole but not throughthe tube, except where the circular row of stitching 6 asses across theforward end portion of t e part 2 of the tube. A suitable fastenin suchfor instance as stitches 9, shown in igs. 2 and 3, or a rivet 10, asshown in Fig. 5, may be located at the center of the coil 1 so as tocomplete the circular pocket for containing the coiled portion 1 of thetube.

If desired, the heel portions of the insole may be secured together byan eyelet 11, as shown in Fig.

In practice, the device is inserted in a shoe, as shown in Fig. 1, withthe heel portion of the insole lying in the heel of the shoe and theelastic tube lying across the arch of the shoe, whereby the heel of thewearer rests upon the heel of the insole while the ball of the foot ofthe wearer rests on the forward portion of the insole in front of thecoiled portion of the elastic tube,

whereby the insole is held in lace, without other fastening devices, andt e elastic arch support is thereby maintained in proper relation to thefoot and supports the arch n a natural and effective manner. The coiledportion of the tube presents the necessary supporting area to the footimmediately in rear of the ball thereof, while the substantiallystraight or tangential portion 2 of the tube extends .rearwardly beneaththe higher portion of the arch of the foot at the inner side thereof,whereby the present support is disposed in proper relation to t e archof the foot so as to support the same at the places where the support isrequired. Inasmuch as the arch of the foot lnclines transversel downwardfrom the inner to the outer side of the foot, it is unnecessa to provideother tube portions alongside of the tube portion 2, as it has beenfound that the single tube portion 2 is an efi'ectivearch su port atthis point, and any additional tube sections alongside of the part 2 areuncomfortable and undesirable.

From the foregoing description, it will be noted that the insole doesnot constitute the arch support, but is used merely as a carrier orholder for the elastic support formed by the tube. The pressure-of theball of the foot and the heel of the foot does not come upon the elasticarch support, but does come upon the retaining flaps formed by the frontand rear portions of the insole, whereby the arch support is'eifectuallyheld in place.

Air pressure is not relied upon to form the elastic support, as it ismerely the elasticity of the tubeitself which gives the necessaryelasticity to the support. I,

The deviceas positioned in Fi 2 of the drawing is for the right foot. yinverting the device it can be used for the left foot. r In otherwords,-it is not necessary, to

make the device in rights and lofts, as either side of the device maybeused as the upper side, ahd consequently any one of the devices may beused for either foot. However, from a commercial standpoint, it may befound desirable to give one side of the device such a finish as willinsure an eflicient frictional engagement with the bottom of the shoe,while the top surface may be given a smooth and soft finish so as to becomfortable to the foot 'of the wearer,

. tic tubing disposed in a flat co As best shown in Figs. 3 and 5 of thedrawing, it will be seen that the tubing projects equally at oppositesides of a central plane extending longitudinally through the device,which also permits of the device bein used either side up.

Iiy employing tubing of different diameters and different thicknesses.the degree of elasticity may be varied to suit different requirements.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to besecured by Letters Patent, is

1. An elastic arch support comprising elastic tubing disposed in a flatcoil, the length of the device being such that the front portion of thecoil will lie adjacent and in rear of the ball of the foot, and the rearportion will lie in front of the heel of the foot.

2. An elastic arch support com rising elasand a portion extendingrearwardly from the coil, the length of the device be such that thefront po ion of the coil w' lie adjacent and in rear 0 the ball of thefoot, and the rear portion will lie adjacent and in front of the heel ofthe foot, substantially as andfor 'tic tubing disposed in a. flat co'and a. portion extending rearwardly from the ,coil, "the length of thedevice be' such that the front portion of the coil lie adjacent and inrear of the ball of the foot, and the rear portion will lie adjacent andin front of the heel of the foot, a flap secured to the a forward end ofthe elastic arch and adapted to lie beneath the ball of the foot, andanother flap extending from the rear end ofthe arch support to hebeneath the heel of the foot.

5. An elastic arch sup tic tubin disposed to cm a pad and having a tuportion extending rearwardly from thepad at one edge thereof, the lengthof the elastic arch being such that the or ward portion thereofterminates adjacent but short of the ball of the foot and the rear endterminates short of and adjacent the heel of the feet, a flap secured tothe forward end of the elastic arch and adapted to lie beneath the ballof the foot, and another flap extending from the rear end of the archsupport to lie beneath the heel of the foot.

ort comprising elas- 6. An arch support comprising an insole includingupper and lower plies, and elastic tubing disposed between the plies andcoiled to form a pad lying adjacent and in rear of the ball portion ofthe sole, the rear portion of the pad terminating short of the heelportion of the insole.

7. An arch support comprising an insole, and elastic tubing included inthe insole and disposed to form a pad located adjacent and in rear ofthe ball portion of the insole, there being a tube portion extendingrearwardly from the pad and terminating short of the heel of the insole.

8. An arch support comprising an insole having top and bottom plies, anelastic tubing disposed between the plies and coiled to form a pad lyingadjacent the ball portion of the insole, there being a tube portionextending rearwardly from the pad along the shank of the insole andedit! copies of this patent may be obtained for five cent! each, byaddressing the "Commissioner cent the inner edge thereof, said tubeportion terminatingzshort of the heel portion of the insole.

9. An arch support comprising an insole including upper and lower plies,elastic tubing disposed between the plies and wound to form a fiat coildisposed adjacent and 1n rear of the ball portion of the insole, therebeing a tube portion extendin rearwardly from the coil and along the sank of the insole adjacent the inner edge thereof, said tube portionterminating short of the heel portion of the insole, and stitchingextending through the plies of the insole and following theconfiguration of the tubing and forming a pocket in which the tubing iscontained.

GHABLES H. DRUOKENMILLER.

Witnesses:

E. W. SHEPARD, A. A. Eon.

of Patentl,

Washington, D. 0."

